Method for Automatically Gumming Shoe

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is an method for automatically gumming a shoe for gumming a gumming target which is an upper surface of a shoe sole or a bottom surface of a shoe body on an automatically circulating path, comprises: guiding the gumming target into the automatically circulating path; by a shape retrieving device, retrieving a shape of the target on the automatically circulating path to obtain a retrieving result; by an applying device, applying a treating agent on the gumming target according to the retrieving result; grabbing the gumming target out of the automatically circulating path and then heating the gumming target; applying a gum on the gumming target according to the retrieving result; grabbing the target out of the automatically circulating path and then heating the gumming target again, thereby the quality and speed of gumming shoe can be enhanced.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a gumming method, and more particularly to a method for automatically gumming a shoe.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Shoes are our life necessities for warm keeping and for feet protecting. In functionality, shoes can be classified into various types, such as lounge shoes, leisure shoes, sport shoes, hiking shoes, flipper shoes, orthopedic footwear, and formal shoes such as leather shoes and high heels. Nowadays, shoes have more versatile designs for pursuing a fashion style, for fitting an occasion or even for clothes matching.

Different types of shoes have their different soles for achieving different goals of shoes. Shoe soles are generally made of leather, rubber, plastic, and so on. Some shoes are with air cushions for a merit of vibration protection. A sole of hiking shoes has deeper notches to prevent sliding, and cloth soles can be seen in the vintage style shoes.

For different shoes, there are their shoe soles with respective shoe size. In the conventional art, generally the shoe sole and the shoe body are gummed manually and then are glued with each other. However, such manual gumming operation requires a precise matching of the sizes of the shoe sole and the shoe body, or otherwise it may occur defective situations that there is too much or too less gum applied between the shoe sole and the shoe body.

Furthermore, while the shoe sole is changed to another size, it requires to restart an evaluation of the contacting surface of the shoe sole and the shoe body by an experienced craftsman. It is very complicated and time consuming for these manual evaluation and gumming adjustment procedure, so that it reduces the efficiency of the production processes, resulting in cost up in human resource and operating time. In addition, such manual operation is difficult to prevent evaluation and gumming errors due to human factors, so that the quality of the shoe product is not reliable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the description above, the conventional method for gumming shoe has disadvantages such as high costs and poor quality control, and thus it is an important issue to develop a gumming method that overcomes the above drawbacks.

An aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for automatically gumming a shoe, for gumming a gumming target that is either an upper surface of a shoe sole or a bottom surface of a shoe body in an automatically circulating path, comprises: a step of directing the gumming target into the automatically circulating path; a step of retrieving a shape of the gumming target, under a use of a shape retrieving device, in the automatically circulating path to obtain a retrieving result; a step of applying a treating agent on the gumming target, under a use of a applying device, according to the retrieving result; a first heating step for performing a heating process with respect to the gumming target that is grabbed from the automatically circulating path after the gumming target is applied with the treating agent; a step of applying, in accordance with the retrieving result, a gum on the gumming target that is processed in the first heating step; a second heating step for performing a heating process with respect to the target that is grabbed from the automatically circulating path after the target is applied with the gum.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in the shape retrieving step, the shape retrieving device retrieves the shape of the target by use of optical scanning.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in the shape retrieving step, the retrieving result is stored.

According to an aspect of the present invention, after the shape retrieving step, the method further comprises a step of amending the retrieving result.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the step of amending the retrieving result includes an internally retracting amending operation and an outwardly extending amending operation.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the gum applying step includes a gum dispensing operation, a gum brushing operation, and a gum spraying operation.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in the gum applying step, the gumming operation includes the configuration of predetermining a predetermined applying amount and/or a predetermined applying time duration of the gum.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in the treating agent applying step, it includes the configuration of predetermining a predetermined applying amount and/or a predetermined applying time duration of the treating agent.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the gum applying step includes a first gum applying step and a second gum applying step, the first gum applying step applies a gum to a central portion of the gumming target, and the second gum applying step applies a gum to an edge portion of the gumming target.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in the first heating step and/or in the second heating step, the gumming target is grabbed out of the automatically circulating path by use of a transporting device.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in the gum applying step, it includes the configuration of predetermining a predetermined applying rate of the gum.

With the characteristic features of the present invention as above, the steps of gluing a shoe is manually processed in a automatically circulating platform by which the manual operation is not necessary to increase the speed of manufacture and reduce the cost of human resource. The quality control can also be enhanced by use of a shape retrieving process of the shoe since the shape evaluation is more accurate and the errors can be prevented in a use of the treating agent and the gum. The operation of shoe gumming can be faster and more accurate by the method of the present invention, and various shapes of the shoes' contour can be gummed by using the method of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanied drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for automatically gumming a shoe in one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an explosion diagram illustrating a shoe in one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing illustrating a gumming target in one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing illustrating a device performing the method for automatically gumming a shoe in one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a device performing the method for automatically gumming a shoe in an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic drawing illustrating a device performing the method for automatically gumming a shoe in another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As referring to FIG. 1, it is a flowchart illustrating the method for automatically gumming a shoe in one embodiment of the present invention.

The method for automatically gumming a shoe is provided for gumming a gumming target which is an upper surface of a shoe sole or a bottom surface of a shoe body on an automatically circulating path, the method comprises steps of: a target directing step (Step S10), a shape retrieving step (Step S20), a treating agent applying step (Step S30), a first heating step (Step S40), a gum applying step (Step S50), and a second heating step (Step S60).

As shown in FIG. 2, specifically, a shoe, which has not been glued, includes a shoe body with an upper portion 1, a shoe body with a bottom surface 2, and a shoe sole 3. In the present invention, the gumming target is either a bottom surface of the shoe body 2 or an upper surface of the shoe sole 3.

Specifically, an automatic shoe gumming device 100 is used to perform the method for automatically gumming a shoe of the present invention. Also as referring to the automatic shoe gumming device 100 in FIG. 4, the method for automatically gumming a shoe of the present invention is described as follows:

Firstly, in the target directing step (Step S10), a gumming target A is directed onto an automatically circulating path P. In this embodiment, the automatic shoe gumming device 100 includes a circulating platform 20, and the circulating platform 20 includes a gumming target emplacement area 210 for disposing the gumming target A thereon. The gumming target emplacement area 210 keeps crossing the automatically circulating path P by a rotary circulation of the automatically circulating path P, so an operator U can easily place the gumming target A in the gumming target emplacement area 210 onto the automatically circulating path P. The rotary circulation speed of the circulating platform 20 can be controlled by a computer device 40 which is electrically connected to the circulating platform 20, as shown in FIG. 5. However, the present invention is not to limit this. In addition to a rotary circulation path as above, the automatically circulating path P can also be a path in any other form, such as a linear transmission as a linear conveyer belt.

Next, in the shape retrieving step (Step S20), a shape of the gumming target A is retrieved by a shape retrieving device 30 to obtain a retrieving result on the automatically circulating path P. In this embodiment, the shape retrieving device 30 of the automatic shoe gumming device 100 can be a CCD (Charge-coupled Device) camera or the like. While the gumming target A is moved and passes through the shape retrieving device 30, the shape retrieving device 30 retrieves the shape of the gumming target A by use of optical scanning. As shown in FIG. 5, the shape retrieving device 30 is electrically connected to a computer device 40, so that the retrieving result can be further stored in a memory of the computer device 40.

Then, in the treating agent applying step (Step S30), by means of an applying device 50, a treating agent is applied on the gumming target A in accordance with the retrieving result as obtained in the shape retrieving step (Step S20). In this embodiment, the computer device 40 can process a vector transformation and a route calculation of the image information of the retrieving result. The applying device 50 is electrically connected to the computer device 40, as shown in FIG. 5. While the gumming target A is moved and passes through the applying device 50, the applying device 50 can apply a treating agent on the gumming target A according to the retrieving result processed by the computer device 40 in which the shape has been retrieved in the shape retrieving step (Step S20).

Further, in the treating agent applying step (Step S30), the computer device 40 is able to configure a predetermined applying amount and a predetermined applying time duration for the treating agent on the gumming target A by the applying device 50. And the predetermined applying amount and the predetermined applying time duration also can be configured in accordance with the obtained retrieving result, for example, to apply less treating agent on the central of the gumming target A when a shorter time duration is determined and to apply more treating agent on the edge of the gumming target A while a longer time duration is determined.

Then, in the first heating step (Step S40), the gumming target A which has been applied with the treating agent in the treating agent applying step (Step S30), is grabbed out of the automatically circulating path P, by a transporting device 60, to a heating device 70, and then is heated in the heating device 70. However, the present invention is not to limit this. In other embodiments, the gumming target A can also be grabbed out of the automatically circulating path P manually.

Sequentially, in the gum applying step (Step S50), a gum is applied on the gumming target A, that has been heated in the first heating step (Step S40), according to the retrieving result. As shown in FIG. 5, applying devices 51,52 are connected to the computer device 40, by which the applying devices 51,52 can apply, according to the retrieving result, a gum on the gumming target A which has been heated in the first heating step (Step S40). For instance, the gum applying step (Step S50) includes a gum dispensing operation, a gum brushing operation, and a gum spraying operation, and the applying devices 51,52 can be operated in a rolling or a brushing tracer mechanism, so that it is more environmental friendly, as a total volatile organic carbon emission may be cut down up to 90% compared to the conventional manual dispensing operation.

Further, in this embodiment of the present invention, the gum applying step (Step S50) includes a first gum applying step and a second gum applying step. A central portion A1 of the gumming target A is applied with a gum by the applying devices 51 in the first gum applying step, and an edge portion A2 of the gumming target A is applied with a gum by the applying devices 52 in the second gum applying step, as shown in FIG. 3. In this embodiment, the applying device 51 performs a gum spraying operation to rapidly spray the gum on the central portion A1, and then applying device 52 performs the gum dispensing operation to carefully dispense the gum on the edge portion A2. Of course, the present invention is not to limit this. In other embodiments, the first gum applying step also can be performed after the second gum applying step. In other words, the edge portion A2 can be gummed before the gumming to the central portion A1.

Furthermore, in the gum applying step (Step S50), a predetermined applying amount and/or a predetermined applying time duration of is configured in the computer device 40 to determine the gum to apply on the gumming target A by the applying device 50. The predetermined applying amount and the predetermined applying time duration can also be determined according to the retrieving result. For example, the predetermined applying amount is to be less and the predetermined applying time duration is to be longer when the gum applies on the edge portion of the gumming target A. The predetermined applying amount is to be more and the predetermined applying time duration is to be shorter when the gum applies on the center portion of the gumming target A. Also, in the gum applying step (Step S50), it includes the configuration of predetermining a predetermined applying rate of the gum, so that the gum can be dispensed at a specific rate to control the gumming volume and thus reduces the total gum usage on each shoe in contrast to that in a conventional spraying method of gumming a shoe.

Sequentially, in the second heating step (Step S60), the gumming target A which has been gummed in the gum applying step (Step S50) is grabbed out of the automatically circulating path P and then is heated again in a heating device 80.

Finally, after the second heating step (Step S60), the method further comprises a shoe gluing step (Step S70) that glues the gumming target A to the bottom surface of the shoe body 2 or to the upper surface of the shoe sole 3.

In a preferred embodiment, after the shape retrieving step (Step S20), the method further comprise a step of amending the retrieving result (Step S25). Specifically, an operator U can amend the retrieving result by means of the computer device 40. For example, the retrieving result is amended to have a more internally retracted result with respect to the edge portion of the shoe by means of an internally retracting amending operation to thus prevent from applying too much treating agent and too much gum thereon. Or the retrieving result is amended retrieving result to have a more outwardly expanded result with respect to the edge portion of the shoe by means of an outwardly extending amending operation to thus enlarge the applying area for applying the treating agent and the gum.

As referring to FIG. 6, it is a schematic drawing illustrating a device performing the method for automatically gumming a shoe in another embodiment of the present invention. In the present invention, another automatic shoe gumming device 100 a is provided to perform the method for automatically gumming a shoe, in which the differences between these two embodiments are as follows. In this embodiment, a gumming target A is an upper surface of a shoe sole that is disposed on the gumming target emplacement area 210 of the automatic shoe gumming device 100. In addition to gumming target A, there is a gumming target A′, which is a bottom surface of a shoe body for being disposed on the gumming target emplacement area 210 of the automatic shoe gumming device 100 a. Furthermore, in this embodiment, a transporting device 90 is provided to transport both of the gumming targets A and A′ between the automatically circulating path P and the heating device 80, and the task of an operator U2 is only to operate an pairing of the gumming target A and gumming target A′ for the following shoe gluing step (Step S70).

The above description should be considered as only the discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention. However, a person skilled in the art may make various modifications to the present invention. Those modifications still fall within the spirit and scope defined by the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for automatically gumming a shoe, for gumming a gumming target that is either an upper surface of a shoe sole or a bottom surface of a shoe body in an automatically circulating path, the method comprising: (a) a step of directing the gumming target into the automatically circulating path; (b) a step of retrieving a shape of the gumming target, under a use of a shape retrieving device, in the automatically circulating path to obtain a retrieving result; (c) a step of applying a treating agent on the gumming target, under a use of a applying device, according to the retrieving result; (d) a first heating step for performing a heating process with respect to the gumming target that is grabbed from the automatically circulating path after the gumming target is applied with the treating agent; (e) a step of applying, in accordance with the retrieving result, a gum on the gumming target that is processed in the first heating step; and (f) a second heating step for performing a heating process with respect to the gumming target that is grabbed from the automatically circulating path after the gumming target is applied with the gum.
 2. The method for automatically gumming a shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the shape retrieving step, the shape retrieving device retrieves the shape of the target by use of optical scanning.
 3. The method for automatically gumming a shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the shape retrieving step, the retrieving result is stored.
 4. The method for automatically gumming a shoe as claimed in claim 1, after the shape retrieving step, further comprising a step of amending the retrieving result.
 5. The method for automatically gumming a shoe as claimed in claim 4, wherein the step of amending the retrieving result includes an internally retracting amending operation and an outwardly extending amending operation.
 6. The method for automatically gumming a shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gum applying step includes a gum dispensing operation, a gum brushing operation, and a gum spraying operation.
 7. The method for automatically gumming a shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the gum applying step, it includes the configuration of predetermining a predetermined applying amount and/or a predetermine applying time duration of the gum.
 8. The method for automatically gumming a shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the treating agent applying step, it includes the configuration of predetermining a predetermined applying amount and/or a predetermined applying time duration of the treating agent.
 9. The method for automatically gumming a shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gum applying step includes a first gum applying step and a second gum applying step, the first gum applying step applies a gum to a central portion of the target, and the second gum applying step applies a gum to an edge portion of the target.
 10. The method for automatically gumming a shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the first heating step and/or in the second heating step, the gumming target is grabbed out of the automatically circulating path by use of a transporting device.
 11. The method for automatically gumming a shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the gum applying step, it includes the configuration of predetermining a predetermined applying rate of the gum. 